ABSTRACT
Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is an irreversible, chronic, tubulo-interstitial nephropathy of unknown origin, geographically confined to several rural regions of the Balkan Peninsula. The geological setting of the endemic areas in the affected countries is similar. Most of the BEN villages are located on alluvial plains of tributaries of the Danube River, with older Tertiary layers (clays, sands and Pliocene lignites) covered by Quaternary river sediments. It is estimated that several thousand people in the affected countries are currently suffering from BEN and that thousands more will be diagnosed with BEN in the coming years.